The national switch will become operational before the year ends. This was disclosed by the Chief Executive of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) Fred France.He however explained that the banks will individually connect to the switch, a process that will largely depend on the various banks. While some banks will connect faster, it might take others some time to be able to complete the process.The national switch is expected to significantly change the payment system as there will be interoperability among the 27 banks in the country. This means that all the ATM outlets will accept any of the existing cards. Additionally, the ATM machines will be reconfigured to be e-zwich compliant.Mr. France noted that when all the banks get connected to the national switch, it will no longer be necessary to have a cluster of ATMs at one location as bank customers can access their account through any of the machines.He explained that this could lead to a significant reduction in the cost of banking operations, as banks with a lesser number of ATMs will not need to roll-out any of their own ATMs. He said the overhead cost of some banks are needlessly high because each bank, no matter its size and customer base, is compelled to install a lot of ATMs in order to create some convenience for their customers.He indicated that although banks continue to install new ATMs, customers still have to move long distances in order to access the ATM of their respective banks - a situation Mr. France believes should be a thing of the past.According to him, when the national switch is fully operational a customer will only need to go to the nearest ATM to access his or her account.